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HBO
A freshly hatched dragon perches on the shoulder of Daenerys in "Game of Thrones."
This the Year of the Dragon, and not just because of the Chinese calendar: Dragons play big roles in HBO's "Game of Thrones" TV series as well as the upcoming film version of "The Hobbit." Those fire-breathing, leathery-winged reptiles have been gripping the human imagination with their sharp talons for millennia, and it's worth wondering why.
Some folklorists trace the dragon myth back to a variety of sources in ancient China, Rome, Greece and India, and speculate that it had its genesis in the discovery of fossil bones from the strange creatures we now know as dinosaurs:
- Scythian lore described griffins with lionlike bodies and birdlike beaks. In the year 77, Pliny the Elder passed down the Scythian stories of gold-guarding griffins with peculiar ears and wings.
- During his travels in northern India, the first-century Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana reported that "no mountain ridge was without" a dragon to its name. The locals said they used magic to lure the dragons out of the earth and pry out the gems embedded in their skulls.
- Chinese accounts of "dragon bones" go back thousands of years — and as recently as 2006, ground-up dinosaur bones were being used in traditional medicine by villagers who believed they came from dragons. (The hard-to-crack dragon eggs depicted in "Game of Thrones" may well trace their lineage back to fossilized dinosaur eggs.)
Classical folklorist Adrienne Mayor, who relates all these tales in her book "The First Fossil Hunters," ascribes the reports to discoveries in fossil-rich regions such as the Altai Mountains in Central Asia, the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia, or the Siwalik Hills in the Himalayas. Not knowing any better, adventurers interpreted the dinosaur bones as representing the remains of dragons, griffins and other mythical monsters.
The gold hoarding? That may have arisen because gold deposits were found close to the fossil beds along ancient Issedonian trade routes.
And the gems? "I think the Indian lore about special gems prised out of dragon skulls alludes to the crystals that can form on mineralized bones," Mayor wrote. "The detailed observations of the first modern investigator of the Siwalik fossils confirm my theory: large, glittering calcite crystals and tubular selenite crystals are common in the Siwalik fossils."
Hard-wired for dragons?
Anthropologist David Jones went even further in his book "An Instinct for Dragons," published in 2000: He proposed that the fables about winged, poison-spewing, fanged and clawed creatures combined three of the top threats to ancient pre-human primates: raptors like the one that may have preyed on a now-fossilized ape-boy known as the Taung child nearly 2 million years ago; poisonous snakes like the ones that may have driven the evolution of big brains and improved vision in primates millions of years ago; and big cats like the ones our pre-human ancestors had to watch out for in Africa.
"The world-dragon was formed by the nature of our own shadowy progenitors' encounters with the creatures who hunted them over millions of years," Jones wrote. The way he sees it, our brain came to be hard-wired with an instinctive fear of dragons.
Paul Jordan-Smith, a folklorist and storyteller who wrote a fiery critique of Jones' book for the journal Western Folklore, thinks the idea that our ancestors somehow evolved a dragon instinct just doesn't hold up. For one thing, Jones' claim that multiple cultures had the same conception of dragons as dangerous beasts is "demonstrably untrue," he said.
"My take on the mythic image of the dragon is that there is no one 'authentic' image, and no one 'true' meaning," Jordan-Smith told me in an email. "The dragon has been a guardian, a thief, a hoarder (like Smaug, in 'The Hobbit') and a dispenser of wisdom (especially in Chinese tales)."
For another thing, the dragon doesn't show up fully formed in ancient tales.
"It's interesting that dragons do not appear in cave paintings," Jordan-Smith wrote. "What does appear are the beasts that they hunted or that were dangerous. ... Where you do see constructs that aren't literal depictions, they're of humans merged with animals. And when you get civilization, you don't see dragons until much later. ... You don't get dragons until you get stories that have dragons in them."
Who's gripping whom?
But once dragons become part of a culture's mythic milieu, they don't fade away. Perhaps that explains why dragons hang around, in Chinese New Year festivals, in European fairy tales, and in American movies and TV shows. Here's what Jordan-Smith had to say about that:
"A dragon, like most mythic imagery, is 'plastic,' in the sense of being adaptable. It can look like whatever the singer of tales wants it to, can serve whatever purpose needed, and can mean just about anything. And some of the traditional qualities may not be incompatible with one another. A dragon that guards a treasure (or an abducted maiden) may be waiting for the right hero that will liberate it from its responsibility. A dragon that threatens to destroy a village may be a wake-up call to rectify misdeeds. Some dragons are enchanted and must be slain to regain their true form. But not all dragons are meant to be slain.
"And what of the hero? He must be changed somehow by the encounter, or else the game is not worth the candle. But what kind of change? In some cultures, to slay a fearsome beast was tantamount to assimilating its powers. ... In Tolkien's books, the Ring exerts its power so thoroughly that its wearer little by little becomes like Gollum. Perhaps there's a particular kind of danger, much more deadly than merely being killed. And perhaps when the hero slays the dragon, he himself is slain, to be reborn as the human incarnation of the dragon. For good or ill? Ask the storyteller."
Maybe it's not the dragon that has a grip on us. Maybe we're the ones who are hanging onto the dragon — and we don't want to let go.
More about dragons and 'Game of Thrones':
- Origin of Komodo dragons revealed
- Chinese villagers ate dinosaur 'dragon bones'
- Sword science plays a role in 'Game of Thrones'
- All about 'Game of Thrones' on The Clicker
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
Leave a Comment:
We want dragons to be part of our history. Dinosaurs were, but no human was alive when they were around. In a sense somehow they are a part of our history, although it is buried in the past. As the author says, the dinosaur bones were dug up by ancient peoples and mistaken for dragon bones. It's like the chicken coming before the egg. There was no egg. Just the big nasty chicken.
I think the Game of Thrones story is terrible, that's my only complaint. Other than that, what is not to like about a mythical creature that is terrifying, strong, intelligent, and sitting on a pile of treasure.
Well, probably only the fact that someone has to come along and stab it. :)
Are you basing your opinion of Game of Thrones from the television series alone? If so, I'd suggest reading the books. The plot, compared to a lot of other fantasy epics, is actually quite well-done and the writing itself is excellent.
I'm not just some fanboi, either, I have pretty discerning taste when it comes to fantasy. I can't even stomach some of the writers that most fantasy fans consider among the greats (Terry Brooks, for example, writes absolute crap; he's the James Patterson of fantasy). So if you haven't yet, pick up the first few books and give them a shot.
Enter the Dragon.
Screw dragons; where can I get myself a Daenerys?
I bet dragons taste like chicken
That's what they say about us.
Speaking of Chicken, Dragons, and Dinosaurs... What did things taste like before there were chickens???? Did a T Rex bite something and think, "Hmmm, tastes like pterodactyl"????
Dragons are indeed in our imagination. I liked the thought that they are plastic, meaning malleable, changeable in what they actually are. Our most prominent Dragonlady, Anne MccAffrey passed away this year. To truly fall in love with dragons, one only needs to read her Dragonriders of Pern series.
She did? I had no idea, now I'm totally bummed out. I collected most of her books when I was a teenager, I love them. I might have to go back and reread them.
A Major loss to the fantasy/sci-fi world!! One of my All time favs!! Rest in peace, within the arms of Ramoth, Dragonlady!!
Some of us take a lot of pride in having been born in the year of the very lucky dragon, I'm an Earth dragon myself. Some might fear them, but I embraced them. I don't think people these days realize the power in such a symbol, instead they're left to be poorly tattooed on someone's arm because it "looked cool". It's disappointing to see.
My fiance and I are still tossing around the idea of taking his mother's maiden name as well when we get married, she was lucky enough to be born a Dragon in a difference sense.
Cool. Does that mean your last name would be Dragon? You could name your first child, Puff (the magic) Dragon.
Yes, taking his mother's maiden name would make our last name Dragon, but I certainly wouldn't do that to my poor child.
Not that we have any plans for children, we have no desire to have any or to add to the growing overpopulation problems in the world.
Smaug was my first dragon, to me the Arch-type. But McCaffrey's dragons will always be my favorites. Such nobility!! Such Bravery!! R.I.P. Dragonlady!!
Go to Todd McCaffrey's site or Pernhome.com and you can leave a condolence message.
The dragons are keening and the "weyrs" are full of crying riders.
I cried when I heard that Anne McCaffrey had died. She was one of the all-time best fantasy authors.
I realize that this is a small error, but it is one that I see often and it bothers me. This article makes reference to "poisonous" snakes. As far as I know there are only two species of poisonous snake in the world. A poisonous snake is one that will make you sick or die only if you eat it. Hence the use of the word 'poisonous'. Snakes that bite you and deliver toxins through their venom are called 'venomous' snakes. For those who know the difference, it takes away from the seriousness of the discussion when this common mistake is made.
I always like sci-fi until the dragons come onto the scene. It almost turns the story into a fairytale, IMO.
Of course dinosaur fossils are probably how the whole dragon thing started. But like any folktale, it gets bigger on down the line.
Even though I haven't seen GoT, I'm still looking forward to it, except for the baby dragon riding around on the princess's shoulder.(OMG) HBO aired a short GoT film last night so I'll hang with it if the whole thing doesn't turn into a series about dragons.
BTW, did any of the links mention the fire breathing part of the dragon? I didn't see anything. An experts needs to explain how that became part of the legend.
Hey Darrah ....
It has been speculated that accounts of spitting cobras may be the origin of the myths of fire-breathing dragons ....
Thanks for adding to friends ....
Thanks Alan ....
How versatile in your article posting ....
Nice ....
Darrah, I've read the George R.R. Martin books, and they ARE Fantasy. Hence the Dragons, and Direwolves. Game of thrones is based on that series, and from what little I've seen, rather accurately. If that's the case, expect lots of "magic".:)--S--
Darrah, Sci-Fi and Fantasy are two very difference genres. While you can have a mix of both, GoT is not Sci-Fi. Science fiction implies a big part of the setting is the technology in it, usually placing the story in a futuristic setting. GoT is nothing like that. The whole series is not about dragons, but they were a part of a large conflict in past lore of the story and are bound to make a reappearance.
bigbenalaska
That's exactly what I read. After making the comment, I searched for different beliefs. So the folklore must have begun in countries where cobras lived such as India.(?) I also read an article about the flame representing the souls of humans.
Another article pointed out that tales of dragons appear in the Bible.
Stephen aka the righthinker
I have no problems with magic, just dragons. lol
DemonGraveWolf
Thanks for clearing that up. I suppose I like sci-fi and some fantasy, as long as it doesn't include dragons.
I'm still looking forward to the series airing tonight.
God, do I feel ignorant again! There are cobras in Asia!
Well Darrah ....
It was your post that made me wonder as well where that fire breathing thing came from ....
And off I went to see what I could find ....
You're the first person I've heard say that they don't like them or care for them in stories ....
But I do get your fairy tail point ....
Have fun ....
I suppose it's more about being fond of medieval history rather than fantasy.
I watched a program about komodo dragons with their long tongues flickering to find prey and wondered if they could play a role in the myth of dragons, especially the fire breathing kind.
HBO aired the original episodes of GoT before the new season premiered tonight. I didn't catch the first few last year so I really don't know whose kid belongs to which, father / bother, cousin, etc.
Some of it was so far out there that I almost changed the channel. The scene where the baby was killed was almost too much.
The sword scenes were very realistic. I'm looking forward to seeing what the little girl, Aryra does with her sword. The character, Dacnery with her uh...dragon is interesting and strong.
Some of the main characters have already been killed in one way or another. It will be interesting to see who's left standing. For those who've read the books, don't tell me. lol
I'm not at all familiar with Go T ....
Komodo's are surely unique , but their saliva is very nasty and toxic ....
I'd check them out from far away only ....
It could be that thousands of yrs. ago, people began combining the cobra with the komodo dragon and ended up with the mythical dragon.
I have to admit that I like some of the ancient art regarding dragons.
Here's a wiki page about European dragons. Check out the alabaster statue of St Margaret and the Dragon. Beautiful!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_dragon
Here's another interesting site.
http://www.draconika.com/
Funny how you say that .... Darrah ....
I was thinking just last night about how artists could play a large role in the images of mythical creatures and objects ....
St. Micheal was depicted kicking out a demon with dragon like wings ....
Artists have also sculpted dragons with open mouths to hold burning wood and coal so that the smoke could exit it nostrils , appearing like a fire breathing dragon ....
Well Darrah ....
We may never really know the true origin of the fire breathing dragon ....
But it's nice to know that imagination is nothing new ....
Have fun ....
I don't think it was just one thing that got people to the point of portraying fire breathing dragons. Religion always seems to be a big factor when it comes to fear though. Of course we have the devil and his "lake of fire." I've always thought that some religions and cultures have a way of keeping people in line. But that's just my take on things. (Sorry, Alan but I had to make that point.)
Just for the record, I surely don't look down on people who like dragons. In fact, I'm beginning to appreciate them. I guess we just imagine them in different ways.
Thanks for the discussion , bigbenalsaka.
Darrah, I thought dragons were real, but very few and very private. :)
Hey. LOL
I only saw the first Shrek movie but didn't the female dragon have a thing for Eddie Murphy's character? Didn't they have some babies?
How? Very carefully?
The writers of the movie had a great chance to explain to kids in the audience how people have sex and have babies, not to mention how a donkey and a dragon do it.
Sky above. Voice within.
The Dragon ssssssssstays with ussssss becausssssse we need to believe. To sssslay the dragon is a term we ussssssse to indicate overcoming insurmountable odds. If you were armed only with the knowledge of ancient man and came across the skull of a T-Rex, what conclusions would you come too?
Doubtful that Komodo dragons had anything to do with people's idea of dragons. They are on a few remote islands just north of Australia. It is possible that crocodiles might since they used to be fairly common in Southern China, India and maybe the Med. at some time. It may also be that their bones and skins were brought to Europe to sell. This combined with finding dinosaur bones probably led to the idea of dragons.
Good point about the crocs.
In my extensive study of Dragons, I have found that on a mythical level we need them as symbols of cosmic wisdom and the creative chaos we puny humans believe we must overcome. They are elemental and natural and the more people convince themselves they are separate from and "above" nature, the more we need Dragons to remind us of the planet's cosmic synergy.
Of course, sometimes we have to believe in a thing before we can see a thing....
My favorite dragons are from Skyrim - they're not the simple violence machines with nothing but death and treasure on their minds like most fantasy dragons; they're sentient and highly intelligent, with their own language and history of being humans' overlords. I'll take Alduin over Smaug any day.
No other fictitious creature shows up more in folklore and customs than the dragon. It is spread from Mexico to China. The sea serpents are marine dragons. It is interesting that certain crypto-zoological creatures show up in multiple cultures. The Sasquatch shows up as Yeti and several other manifestations as well as the Loch Nessy Monster has similar kin around the world. If we get into religion, the Biblical idea of a flood is found in many diverse cultures that are not based on Christianity. We have to speculate about the origins of these legends.
Just an FYI -- it is the Loch Ness Monster, affectionately nicknamed "Nessy." Loch Ness is a long, narrow, deep body of water in the heart of the Scottish Highlands. "Loch Nessy" is just gibberish. You probably know that and it was simply a typo, but just in case...
@ Chris
While I absolutely loved Skyrim, I have to disagree with you on that statement. There's more mythical and moral symbolism involved with Smaug, mainly of greed and vanity (there's loads of Christian metaphors in Tolkien's works). Besides, even D&D's dragons - which are about as mainstream dragon as you can get - have their own history and lore, especially in the later versions of the game.
@ Wade
In all likelyhood, every culture with a "biblical" flood story probably developed one because at some (different) point and time their lands were flooded by some natural event. These stories say that the world was flooded because to the people who wrote them, their lands were the only world they knew. That doesn't necessarily suggest that the whole planet was flooded.
Well, duh, in a truly fantasy-purist sense, Smaug is the archetypical dragon against whom most others will be measured.
I was speaking strictly in terms of pure dragon-combat badassery.
Dragons are also very entrenched in both Hinduism and especially Buddhist “mythology”, they are known as the Naga, in India it can mean snakes or Dragons, but in Sanskrit, Naga specifically means Cobra. In Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, Dragon and Naga are synonyms (Snakes, Dragons and Sea serpents are all Nagas); you will find many Buddhist images of a meditating Buddha with a many headed Naga (dragon) protecting him.
Dragons are known as the Dharma (teachings of the Buddha) protectors. It is said, of the greatest Buddhist Teachers ever, Nagarjuna , received his teachings from the Naga king (Dragon King) himself! That is why he has Naga in his name. The Dragons are also the protectors of Nirvana, they will not let anyone pass that is not at least as wise as they are, this is a metaphor naturally, as Nirvana is not a place but a state of mind, therefor, to become enlightened, enter Nirvana, you must be as wise as a dragon, and by association, Dragons are all enlightened beings.
As a side note, Koi fish are also known as Dragon Fish. They travel up the Rainbow (or Dragon) river, as they travel up the river, they speak to the many animals that come to drink and they ask many many questions and learn much wisdom, so much so, that by the time they reach the head waters, they are so wise they transform into dragons.
How do I know all of this, because my Dharma name is NagaBrug, it means Dragon Thunder in Tibetan and I just love everything to do with Dragons :)
Dragon Fly ....
That was incredible. You have a gift.
Thank You.